Teddy
by BoboTheBookworm
Summary: Yes, I used a hashtag as a title, DON'T JUDGE ME! I'm posting this because I asked if I should post this, and someone said yes. Talia, Ed Sheeran's friend from school, is reunited with him, and she catches up with him. She realizes she still has strong feelings for him. What will happen? Did I make it sound enough like a soap opera? Well, whatever, enjoy! (Rated T for swearing.)
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

_Seven years ago_

I sat down at a computer in the school library. I logged on and plugged in my flash drive. I went to my story and started typing. I was writing a story about a girl who had pyrokinetic powers. I was about a quarter through the story, the farthest I had ever gotten in a story without getting complete writer's block.

I was halfway through the chapter when it hit. I had no idea what to write next. I spent the first few minutes writing crap, then deleting what I had written. I groaned and put my head in my hands. "Ugh, go die in a hole!"

"Uh, sorry?" I looked up and saw a boy with bright orange hair, who had just past me. "Oh, no!" I said panicky, "No, not you! I'm sorry, I wasn't talking to you! Sorry-"

He laughed, "It's fine. So what're you doing?" He pulled a chair over next to me a looked at the monitor. "You're writing a story?" I nodded, "Yep. And the 'die in a hole' was pointed towards writer's block. It's being stupid."

"Oh, I get it," he said, "I write songs, and I get writer's block all the time."

"You write songs?"asked. He nodded. "What kind of music?" He tilted his head side to side, thinking for a moment. "Eh, some different stuff. A little bit of pop, I guess, some acoustic, alternative indie, soul, hip hop, kinda hard to explain. Some folk in there, though." **(How the hell are you supposed to describe Ed's music?)**

"Oh, so good music then. No rap or stuff like that." His eyes shifted side to side. "Seriously? Rap?" I asked.

"But it's not like normal rap songs, it's not like about having tons of money and sex and shit like that."

"Oh," I said, "Then I guess it's cool. So do you sing songs too, or do you just write them?" "I sing 'em, too," he said.

"Okay, singer songwriter, what's your name?"

"Ed. Ed Sheeran. And yours?"

"I'm Talia Dolton. Nice to meet you, Ed Ed Sheeran." He rolled his eyes, then looked back to the computer.

"So what's your story about?" he asked. "A pyrokenetic," I said simply. He looked at me. "What else? What's the story?"

"I'm not telling! Not until it's done." He rolled his eyes again.

"So are you new?" I asked. "I haven't seen you around here before." He nodded, "Yeah, I just moved from Halifax." **(I have no idea when Ed moved to Suffolk, so bear with me.)**

"Well then, Ed, welcome to Framlingham. It's extremely bromidic, but welcome."

"What?" he said.

"It means boring. If we're going to be friends, you need to know I like using weird words."

"Who said we're gonna be friends?" He said, raising his eyebrows.

"Me. You're gonna need friends, and you have to start with someone." He shrugged, grinning. "Alright."

**Beginning of my Ed Sheeran story! I'm posting this prologue and the second chapter at the first time. Enjoy, my oh, so beautiful people!**


	2. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

"Can everyone welcome Ed Sheeran?" I heard Jonathan Ross say on the TV in the living room. I ran in from the kitchen and snatched the remote. I cranked up the volume and sat down on the floor.

Ed walked onstage and sat down across from the interviewer. "Hello, Ed, it's great to see you again!" Jonathan said. Ed nodded politely, "Hey, you too."

"Alright, let's just get started. You've just played Madison Square Garden. Not once, not twice, but _three _times. How was it?" I felt tears prick at my eyes. I was so proud of Ed. He had gotten so far in the years he'd been away. I missed him a ton, too.

Ed grinned, which made me smile. "It was absolutely amazing. It had always been my dream to play there, and let me just say, I was not disappointed at _all._ The crowd was spectacular."

"And you did amazing each show! Tell me, do you have any pre-show traditions?" Jonathan asked. Ed shook his head. "No, not really. I pretty much just tell myself not to screw up. It usually works." Jonathan laughed.

"Okay, now let's talk about the fans? What do they call themselves?"

"I believe they've come up with a couple names, but I like Sheerio best."

"Do you care whether or not they were there from the beginning, or if they discovered you through _The A Team_?"

"Alright, I'm asked this a lot." He looked at the camera. "If you have been a fan of my music for 5 years or a fan of my music for 1 hour it doesn't matter, what matters is you're a fan."

"Yes!" Jonathan said, "I like that!" They continued to talk and I enjoyed watching it.

I missed Ed. _A lot. _He'd been my only friend in high school. When he left, I became a complete loner. We hadn't been able to stay in contact, so his music and these videos were the only way I could ever see him.

It may be weird to think of your best friend as this, but I considered Ed as my hero. I looked up to him (even though he's only a couple months older than me.) If it wasn't for him, I probably would've given up on _Pyro_ ages ago. (That story I was writing when I met Ed.) He had gotten me past the first case of writer's block, and all the others. I finished it after he left for London (which broke my heart, by the way. But I was still really proud of him to do so. I mean, I know Suffolk sadly seemed to sort of… suffocate him. *nudge nudge wink wink*) Now I was just editing it. Speaking of which, I should probably start working on it now…

I walked to the public library, because I didn't have a computer at my flat. I didn't even have a laptop and I'm 22, while seven-year-olds have iPhones. It was ridiculous.

I got there and I sat down at a computer. I plugged in my flash drive and immediately started editing _Pyro_. I was almost done editing it. It was my fourth time going through it, and I was only a few chapters from the end. So far, there had been very few mistakes, so I was pretty sure I was almost done.

I was really proud of this story. I had worked ages on it and I was almost done. I couldn't wait to send it to the publisher.

After about ten minutes, the computer suddenly shut down. That meant I had just lost all the changes I had made. I groaned and headbanged the desk. "Ugh, go die in a hole!" Then I muttered while chuckling slightly, "Woah, déjà vu."

"Sorry?" I looked up and saw a man with ginger hair. I gaped. "Oh, no way..." I muttered as I gazed at my old friend.

He blinked a few times, then grinned slightly. "That's funny. This exact thing happened a few years ago with my old friend. She looked a lot like you, actually."

I realized he didn't recognize me. I was pretty disappointed, but I decided to go along with this. It'd be funny.

"Oh, really?" I asked. He nodded, "Yeah. She had gotten writer's block on a story of hers, and she said those exact words right when I was walking by."

I nodded, trying to hold back a smirk. "Oh, that's weird. I was working on a story, too. I was just working on editing it, when the computer shut down."

"Really? What's it called?" he asked, scrunching his eyebrows together.

The smirk made its way to my face. "_Pyro."_

His eyes widened. "That's what..." He face palmed, sighing. "I am a bloody idiot."

I laughed. "Took you that long to figure that out, Ed? Well done."

"Shut up, Talia. Just give me a hug." He held his arms out and I hopped up and jumped into his arms.

"I missed you so much!" I exclaimed. "I missed you, too!" he said.

I stepped back and raised an eyebrow. "Then how come you didn't recognize me?"

"You look so different!" he said. "You've grown your hair out, you've got more freckles, you've got new glasses, you're…" he trailed off. "I'm what?" I asked.

"Nothing. Nothing. Um, so you're editing _Pyro_?" he asked. I nodded. "Uh-huh! I finished writing it a couple months after you left-" My voice cracked, but I continued, hoping he wouldn't notice, "And this is my fourth time going through it, and um-"

"Talia?" he said, looking at me, concerned. "Yeah?" I said, turning away and leaning down to turn the computer back on. When I stood back up, Ed turned me around and motioned for me to hug him again..

I hugged him tight, tears threatening to spill. "I missed you a lot, Ed. The first few weeks without you were absolutely abhorrent, and-"

"You and your big words," he choked, chuckling. I let out a watery laugh. "I missed those huge words," he said. I stepped back and wiped my face.

"So," I said, "Cool, you're so beautiful," Ed sang, grinning. I giggled and rolled my eyes. He used to always do that. Whenever I said one of his song titles out of context, he started to sing the song. It used to be kind of annoying, but now it was just refreshing.

"As I was saying," I said. "What are you doing here?"

"Visiting family. And I'm here longer this time, so I figured I'd try seeking you out. It worked!"

"I knew you didn't forget about me!" I said, grinning.

"Why on Earth would I forget about you?" He asked.

"I didn't think you would," I explained, "My sister kept saying you had probably forgotten about me. I kept telling her you're not that kind of person."

"Damn right, I'm not!" he said. "I'm offended she would think so."

"Well, you know her. She kind of likes to stomp on my dreams."

"Oh, so I'm a dream now?" he joked, throwing me a wink.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, shut up, you know that's not what I meant." He laughed.

"So you've finished _Pyro_," he said, glancing at the computer. "Can I _finally_ read it now?" I had never allowed him to read the whole thing. Just the parts where I needed help. He had always begged me to let him read the entire thing, but I always refused. But now I was done. And it's always good to have someone else read through the story, because they'll most likely find something you didn't, or they could have a suggestion.

I heaved out a long sigh. And by long, I mean seriously long. Ed gave me an annoyed look and I giggled. "Fine."

"Yes!" he cheered and shoved me out of the way. "Excuse me," I said. He looked at me sheepishly, then started reading.

It got really boring for me. I just sat waiting. Every once in a while, he'd laugh at something, and I'd have to see what he was laughing at, because it would bug me otherwise.

I started pacing back and forth. I hadn't grabbed a book, because I'd thought I'd just be editing the entire time.

At one point, I crept up behind him and started braiding tiny bits of his hair, but he kept slapping my hands away. But what I did get done looked hilarious. That entertained me for a couple minutes. But then I was bored again.

I set up two chairs so I could lay down on them. It was very uncomfortable, so that didn't last very long.

Oh, yeah, I'm pretty fidgety, in case you couldn't tell.

I started walking around the library and looked among the books. _Read that,_ I thought. _Read that. Heard that was dreadful. Read that. Read it, that was absolute trash. That sounds really boring. Read that._

Pretty soon, I ended up next to Ed again. I noticed Ed glancing at me several times, amused. _Read faster!_ I thought.

I started tapping my fingers. At first it was just a random rhythm, but then it started to become _Miss You. _I started humming as well. After a couple minutes, Ed started singing softly.

_"I don't know when I lost my mind. Maybe when I made you mine, woahhh. I don't know when I lost my mind. Maybe it was every time you said, you said, you saaaid, and I miss you more than I let on..."_

I looked up and noticed that he didn't really know he was doing it. I noticed he was tapping his foot to the rhythm. I grinned.

I suddenly changed the rhythm to _I'm Yours, _one of my favorite songs. He immediately started tapping his foot to that now, and started singing quietly, "_Well, you done done me and you bet I felt it, I tried to be chill, but you're so hot that I melted..."_

I continued to do this with several other songs. It was very amusing to watch Ed just suddenly change songs, sometimes from crazy fast rap songs to soft, slow ones.

I started snickering, and Ed looked up from the screen. "What?" I shook my head, "Nothing." He rolled his eyes and continued to read.

I got bored again. About ten minutes after the rhythm thing, I climbed under the table. "What- You know what, never mind," Ed said from above me. I laughed.

I was seriously tempted to unplug the computer, but I have _some _decency.

I started to take off his shoe. But as soon as I got one off, he stuck his smelly foot in my face. I screeched, "EW!" I scrambled out from under the desk away from it. Ed was cracking up.

"That is absolutely malodorous!" I exclaimed. "That's disgusting!"

"Malodorous?" Ed questioned. "It smells gross," I explained.

"Oh," he laughed. "You asked for it!" I glared at him.

"Shh!" the librarian shushed. "Sorry," I mouthed. When I turned back to Ed, I stuck my tongue out. "Meh meh meh," I mumbled and he laughed.

He started reading again. I got up and started pacing back and forth again. Then I sat down on a chair sideways and leaned back so I was hanging upside down. Pretty soon, all the blood had rushed to my head so I sat back up.

I looked at my watch and groaned. It had only been an hour and a half. I looked at where Ed was. Chapter 16. I groaned even louder.

"Oh, are you bored, Talia?" Ed asked cheekily. I glared at him. He laughed and started closing stuff up. "I can continue reading it later." He pulled out the flash drive and handed it to me. I put it in my pocket. "Thank you," I said. "So what do you think so far?" I asked hopefully.

"Absolutely terrible," he said sarcastically. I grinned. "So you liked it?" He nodded, "Loved it."

I cheered. "Shh!" the librarian said again. I rolled my eyes. "Oh, shut up," I muttered. There was literally no one else there.

Suddenly my stomach grumbled. Very loudly.

Ed raised his eyebrows. "You hungry?"

I nodded. "Yes. Must. Eat. Food." He laughed, "Alright, let's go get some McDonald's then. I'm hungry, too.. Just not as much as you. You sound like Niall," he said.

I almost said, "What?" But then I remembered. Ed knew a lot of people. Including One Direction. That was crazy. A small part in the back of my mind thought, _You can meet them! You could meet Louis! Ooh, that'd be nice._ Yeah, I had a teensy celebrity crush on Louis Tomlinson. But I liked someone else quite a bit more...

Oh, yeah, I should probably tell you something. I think we know each other well enough. Or at least you know me well enough. I don't know anything about you. Except that you're human. Or maybe you're not... Maybe you're an alien who can understand English, and- Okay, I've been reading too much sci-fi.

Oh, right, I was going to tell you something. Ehh, maybe I shouldn't tell you... You might tell Ed. I mean, um, oh, great. I'm an idiot.

Oh well. You see I kinda started falling for Ed a couple months before he left... But you can't really blame me, can you? He'a so sweet and awkward, he's a genius, he's quite a master of life, you probably know that if you're a Sheerio. Not to mention, he's pretty good-looking. I always loved his ginger hair. Also-

"Talia?" I snapped out of my thoughts. "Wha?" He laughed. "You've been staring at that bookshelf for the past two minutes. What's up?"

"Nothing," I lied, "It's just I saw the Harry Potter books and I remembered Fred and, well, you know how I am about Fred."

He nodded. "Oh, yes. I remember when you were reading _Deathly Hallows._ You started yelling about how J.K. Rowling was a total jerk and she couldn't kill off Fred."

I crossed my arms. "You can't blame me! I meant first Harry's parents, then Sirius, then Dumbledore, then Snape, then Dobby, then Fred? That is a line, Edward, that you do not cross." He laughed.

My stomach grumbled again. "Ugh," I groaned and grabbed Ed's hand. "Come on!" I ran out the door and started towards the nearest McD's.

As we were walking, we saw a guy playing the guitar. I pulled out some cash, as did Ed, and we both put some money in the guy's hat.

"Hey, you're doing great, man," Ed said, "You're definitely headed somewhere. Just don't give up."

The guy threw in a quick thanks before continuing to play. Ed and I continued walking.

"He's pretty pulchritudinous," I said. Ed looked at me like, _What the fuck did you just say?_ I laughed, then translated, "He's cute."

Ed looked at me. "You seriously used that long of a word just to say 'cute?'" I nodded. "Yep!"

He shook his head, "You're so weird..." I pouted. "In a good way, of course," he said, smiling slightly. I grinned.

Finally, we reached McDonald's. We went inside and I ordered a grilled chicken snack wrap, while he got a big double cheeseburger. We got a huge order of chips to share, and also a bag of cookies.

We walked over and sat at a table. Ed examined the food in front of us. "We haven't changed in the slightest bit, have we?"

"Nope," I said, grabbing a handful of chips. There was a small, comfortable silence as we ate.

I noticed a woman pointing at us to another girl through the window. It made me kind of uncomfortable, but I tried to ignore it.

After a few minutes, though, they were still pointing and looking over. I shifted awkwardly, glancing at them.

"You okay?" Ed questioned. I gestured out the window. "We're being watched," I whispered.

Ed looked through the window and scrunched his eyebrows together. He waved awkwardly to them, and they saw. Soon, they were coming into the restaurant.

"We're sorry!" one woman said, "We didn't mean to make you uncomfortable. We were just talking about how cute you two were together!"

Ed and I looked at each other, eyes wide. "Oh, no," I said. "We're- we're not together," Ed finished, rushing, so his old stutter kinda showed up a bit.

"Oh, I'm sorry," the other woman said. "You two would just make such a cute couple! Okay, well, bye." They left, leaving Ed and I in a now _un_comfortable silence. _Thanks a lot! _I thought.

I awkwardly picked up my wrap and ate quietly.

Ed cleared his throat. "Erm, so um, how's life?"

I raised an eyebrow.

"I mean," he said, "What's been going on since I left?"

"Oh. Well, I went to university, and I got a degree in English. So if I fail at being an author, I can teach English or something."

He raised an eyebrow. "Fail at being an author? Yeah, right. What I've read so far is amazing."

I blushed. "Yeah, well. Um, my sister dropped out-"

"Seriously?" Ed's eyes were wide.

"Of course not!" I said, laughing. "Abby would never do that! Can't believe you believed that for a second. Okay, what else. Oh, I have a small job in journalism. It's basically a top ten books of the month, and I describe why I like them. It's fun, but it doesn't pay real well. I also babysit time to time, and I have a job at the Subway at the shopping center."

"Three jobs?" Ed asked, eyes wide. I shrugged, "Babysitting doesn't really count, so really just two."

"Still," he said, "That's a lot."

"Well, maybe I could get a bit of money from _Pyro_ if it's published, so I can stop the babysitting."

"You mean, _when_ it's published."

"No, if."

"No, _when."_

I shook my head. "Don't get my hopes up, Ed," I said. He rolled his eyes.

"What else?" he asked. "Have you," he nudged me and winked, "Dated anyone?"

I burst out laughing. After a couple minutes, I looked up to see Ed, raising his eyebrows. "Wait, you were serious?" I asked.

He nodded slowly. "Uh, yeah."

"Well, obviously, no. Still forever alone."

He frowned. "You're not forever alone."

I scoffed, "Oh, yes, I am! Not one guy has ever given me a second look."

He looked down and mumbled something under his breath, which I didn't catch. Then he looked back up, "You'll find someone. I know it."

I decided not to argue any further. There was no point.

Ed reached for a cookie. I slapped his hand away. "Hey!" he exclaimed.

"No cookies! I can make really good shakes using these cookies."

He pouted, "But I want one now." "Too bad," I said. I got up to throw away all the trash. I grabbed the cookies. "Oh, yeah, I also got my own flat. Forgot to mention that."

"Your own flat? How do you forget to mention that?" I shrugged.

"Well, I'm gonna see it. Lead the way." I realized that I'd probably be spending the entire day with Ed. I grinned; I was looking forward to this.

"What are you grinning about?" Ed asked.

"Nothing," I said, and walked outside. I started heading toward my flat. I saw that the performer was no longer there. I wondered how much money he had earned.

It took about ten minutes to get there. When we did, I make Ed close his eyes. He raised an eyebrow, but he did as he was told. I opened the door and made him sit on the couch, while I cleaned up some of the stuff that was on the floor. (I was never very organized.)

While I was picking up my boots by the doorway, I heard a gasp. I spun toward Ed, who had opened his eyes. WITHOUT MY PERMISSION! How dare he? "Ed!" I exclaimed.

He was gazing around at the black carpet and orange walls. Most of the furniture was orange as well, except the coffee table was glass. I had a keyboard in one corner of the room, and also a guitar. I didn't use them much though.

The kitchen had mostly regular furniture, except the chairs at the island were orange.

Yeah, I really love the color orange, in case you couldn't tell.

"You always said when you got your own place, you'd make it orange. I never thought you actually would." I shrugged. "Orange is an awesome color."

I ran into the kitchen and got out my blender. I threw in the cookies, some milk, ice cream, and ice and blended it. I then pouted the shake into two glasses. I slid one down the counter towards Ed.

He picked it up and took a sip. "Thank you for making me wait for the cookies," he said. I grinned as he chugged the rest of the shake down. I just slowly sipped mine.

After Ed finished his, he walked over and grabbed my guitar. He started strumming a random tune.

I watched as he started to kind of jump around as he played. He started drumming with his hands on the top. I smiled. I love how he got so into the music.

When I finished my shake, I went into the living room where Ed was and sat on the back of the sofa, then leant back so I was now upside down with my feet sticking up in the air.

Ed plopped down next to me, after putting down the guitar. "Comfortable?" he said. As a response, I stuck my foot in his face.

"Ew!" He laughed, shoving it away.

"It's revenge for earlier," I said, smiling.

Ed pulled out his phone and took a picture of me. Right when he took it, I stuck my tongue out at him. He laughed.

Soon, he started typing something. I looked over. "What are you doing?"

"Nothing." I peered over and could barely make out the Twitter logo. My eyes widened. "Oh, no, you don't!" I said, grabbing for his phone. He held it away from me and sent the tweet. I pouted.

My phone beeped and I looked at it.

_ edsheeran: Reuniting with my old friend Talia. She's a weirdo._

Attached to it, was the picture.

"I take that as a compliment," I said, looking at him. He nodded, "I know."

There was a long silence. Ed got up and started walking around. I heard the shuffling of papers. "What's this?" Ed asked.

"What's what?" I asked. He came over and tossed something onto my stomach, causing me to groan.

I picked it up and saw it was my sketchbook. "Sketchbook," I said, and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"Well, no shit," he said and I giggled. "How come you never told me you draw?"

I shrugged, "I got more into it after you left, after I finished writing _Pyro._"

He picked it up again and started flipping through it. "So do you just do portraits?" he asked.

I nodded, "Pretty much."

"There are a few of me in here," he commented, and I saw him smile.

"Yeah," I said, remembering staring at the photos of me and him, and concentrating on each detail. "I drew those when I was stressed. You always seemed to calm me down when I was stressed."

"These are really good, Talia," Ed said. "You've got the boys in here, Jason Mraz, Mike-" It took me a moment to realize he was talking about Passenger. "-Macklemore, Abby, Taylor-"

"How was touring with her?" I interrupted.

He looked over at me. "It was awesome. She's really nice and cool."

"She's so cool," I sang quietly, "She's so beautiful..." Ed smiled as he heard me.

"How come there aren't any pictures of you in here? There's your whole family, me, all these famous people... Where's you?" Ed asked.

_I was drawing pretty people,_ I thought, but aloud, I said, "I don't know. It's easier to draw someone else, because I look at them more often."

"You look at yourself in the mirror every day," he pointed out.

"Yes, but I don't stare in the mirror for half an hour."

"So what, you stare at One Direction for half an hour at a time?" he joked.

"You have your hobbies, I have mine," I joked back. He laughed. "No," I said, "But Tumblr exists and they are _everywhere."_ He laughed again.

Ed started flipping through the pages again. Suddenly, he burst out laughing. "Is this Louis with a heart around him?"

I blushed. "There was a time when I had a slight crush on him..." He kept laughing.

"Shut up!" I exclaimed. "You had a huge crush on Taylor for ages!" He shut up. Thank God.

"So you've got three jobs, you're editing a story, and you've still managed to draw all of these? You sure must be busy," Ed commented.

"Helps to have no friends," I said, only half-joking.

He laughed, "Well, you got me now," he said, smacking my ankle that was over by his face.

"Temporarily," I muttered.

"What?" he said, glancing over at me. "Nothing."

"This one isn't finished," he said, and tossed the book to me. I looked at the page. I had tried drawing Rupert Grint. It wasn't easy, let me tell you.

"Oh," I said.

"Finish it," Ed commanded.

"Now?" I asked. He nodded. I sighed and rolled off the couch. I stood up and grabbed a pencil, blending stump, and an eraser. I plopped the stuff down on the coffee table and sat on the floor, so I was facing Ed. I pulled up a picture of Rupert on my phone and started working.

I started working on his hair, which I'd started with last time. Once I did that, I moved onto his facial features. Then I worked on his ears and jawline. Then his neck, and his shirt and shoulders. Oh, and it's much more difficult than that sounds.

As I was working, I felt Ed watching me. Every so often, I noticed him smirk a little out of the corner of my eye. "What?" I'd say, and he'd just respond with, "Nothing." Ed only got up a couple times as I worked.

After about an hour, I was finished. I scribbled my signature in the corner, and I leaned back. "Done!" I flipped the sketchbook shut, and got up and plopped onto the sofa next to Ed.

We decided to watch TV for awhile, but I started to get tired, and I fell asleep in the middle of _Game of Thrones._

**Just this chapter is 4,500 words. IT'S A NEW RECORD!**


	3. Chapter 2

When I woke up, I saw that Ed had fallen asleep too. I looked at my phone and saw it was about ten in the morning. I also saw that Ed had tweeted again.

_ edsheeran: Talia's probably going to kill me for this, but she just completely passed out. I had to get a picture._

Attached was a picture of me, curled up in a ball, fast asleep. I glared over at the sleeping figure next to me. Ed was right, I'm gonna kill him. Okay, probably not, but whatever.

I took this moment to examine Ed more closely. He had stubble all along his jawline. His hair was an absolute mess, but then again, when wasn't it?

I looked at his arm, that had been completely inked since I last saw him. I loved the whole sleeve. It was really cool.

I looked back at his face and smiled. I realized I was seriously falling for this guy. At this, I frowned. Ed would probably never like me like I like him. Plus, I'd seen all those who call him Ginger Jesus. They thought he was perfection. (Of course, I completely agreed.) I was far from perfection.

I sighed and told myself to stop thinking about it. I stood up and decided to take a shower. Afterwards, I began to cook breakfast.

I started frying a couple eggs. Just as I was finishing the second one, I heard Ed in the other room, waking up. Suddenly, I heard a _thud._

I ran into the room and found Ed lying on the ground holding his elbow. "Ow..." He muttered.

I clapped slowly. "Well done, well done." He glared at me. "Shut up." I giggled and walked back into the kitchen.

Ed slowly got off the ground and walked in, all zombie-like.

"What's this?" Ed mumbled.

"It's dessert, what do you think it is?" I said. He stuck his tongue out at me and I grinned. I put the eggs on the island and we both sat down. We ate silently. I liked these moments. We didn't have to talk, we just enjoyed each other's company.

When we finished, I took both our dishes and rinsed them, then put them in the dishwasher.

I walked into the living room, where Ed was sitting on the sofa. I plopped down on the opposite end and propped my feet onto his lap. Neither of us wanted to break the silence, so we just stayed quiet.

Five minutes later, there was a knock at the door. I sighed and got up, and walked over. I looked through the peephole and groaned quietly. Ed looked at me questioningly.

I opened the door and faked a smile to my neighbor. "Hello, Steph, what brings you here?"

Stephanie scowled. "Don't call me that. I just-" She peered inside. "You seriously painted all this crap _orange?"_

I nodded slowly, "Why not? You painted yours pink."

"Yeah, but pink is a _good _color."

I clenched my fists. "Sure it is. Now, can I help you?"

I noticed Ed was silently snickering at me. I glared at him.

"I need some eggs."

"Oh, I don't have any," I said, glancing at the carton of eggs in the kitchen, that she couldn't see, luckily.

"Do too! I smell them!"

"No, I don't. Was that all? Okay, bye." I started to close the door.

"Don't lie to me, you bitch!" I saw Ed's eyes widen. I stopped the door and looked at her. "What did you just call me?" I said slowly.

"Bitch," she said, grinning. Ed pointed to the eggs and grinned. I smiled, knowing what he meant.

"Okay, Steph, you're right. I did lie. Just one moment." I closed the door and walked into the kitchen and grabbed the eggs. I pointed to Ed. _Wanna help? _I mouthed. He nodded.

I handed him a few of the eggs. I opened the door, to find Stephanie looking impatient and annoyed.

"Here's your eggs," I said, smirking. I opened the carton and grabbed a few. "What are you doing?" She said, exasperated.

"Why, I'm giving you your eggs," I said innocently, then winked at Ed. He took the cue and we both started chucking eggs at Stephanie. She screeched as each egg exploded as they hit her. She ran down the hall back to her own flat. "Bye, Steph!" I exclaimed. She just screamed in return.

Ed looked at the floor, covered in eggshells and yolk. "What are we gonna do about that?" he asked.

I took a couple eggs and smashed them against the door. "We'll claim we were egged," I said.

I heard Stephanie yelling still. I realized what I'd just done and started cracking up. (No pun intended.) Ed did, too.

I actually ended up snorting. Yes, I _snorted._ I clamped my hand over my mouth, turning red, completely embarrassed. But Ed just looked at me and laughed even harder.

I groaned and dove on to the couch, and stuffed a pillow in my face.

"Talia... You just... Oh my..." He couldn't finish any sentences. I just groaned into the pillow.

He laughed. "No need to be embarrassed, Talia. I've seen you do much more embarrassing things."

"Like what?" I mumbled.

"Well, remember when you had a crush on that guy Jack? And you saw him and you tripped down the stairs at school?"

I groaned again. "That was so ignominious."

"I'm guessing that means embarrassing?" he said. I nodded.

Just then his phone beeped. "Hey, Harry wants to video chat. You wanna come over here?" he said. "No," I said, my face still beet red.

"Too bad," he said. He came over and sat on the floor next to me and accepted the chat.

"Hello, Ed!" I heard Louis scream. Wow, so he actually does that normally.

"Hey," Ed grinned.

"So Ed," Harry said, "I saw your tweets. So were you planning on telling me you had an absolutely stunning friend, or...?" My eyes widened and I blushed furiously.

Ed looked over at me and grinned. "You hear that, Talia? Harry thinks you're stunning."

I heard Harry gasp. "What? She's there?! Why didn't you tell me that? Ed!" he whined.

I finally looked at Ed. "Did you take pictures of someone else, or something?" I pulled out my phone, scrolling through Ed's tweets.

He sighed. "No, Talia. _You're _the stunning one."

I saw Harry and Louis look at each other and both started singing. "You're insecure, don't know what for! You're turning heads when you walk through the do-o-or!" I raised an eyebrow, while Ed joined in. "Don't need makeup to cover up! Being the way that you are is eno-o-ough!"

I rolled my eyes and threw my head back into the pillow.

"Well someone doesn't like to talk," Louis said. I looked up and stuck my tongue out. He did the same and made the obnoxious sound that kids do when they stick their tongues out.

I made the noise, too, only louder. Louis and I continued to do this for awhile, until Harry said, "Will you shut up?!" I started giggling.

"You guys are so... Puerile?" Ed looked at me. "Is that the word you use?" I nodded.

"What the hell does that mean?" Louis said. "Immature," I told him.

"She likes to use weird words," Ed explained. "I can't understand what she's saying half the time."

"It's fun to mystify people," I said. Harry perked up. "Hey, I know that one!" I laughed.

Ed continued to talk to them for awhile, but I didn't really pay attention. I just started daydreaming. Suddenly, something came to my mind.

"Be right back," I said to Ed, and got up.

I went into my room and opened the drawer of my desk. I pulled out my journal and scribbled in a few lyrics. Then I closed it shut and put it back in the drawer.

Ed didn't know, but I had tried writing some songs myself. Clearly, they weren't as good as his. But I could try.

I walked back to the living room, but stopped behind the doorway when I heard the conversation.

"So Ed," Harry said, "How long have you two been together?"

"We're just friends," Ed said.

"What?! Ed, I can tell you like her." I scoffed quietly. As if.

"I don't," Ed said. Called it. My shoulders slumped. Even though I knew he didn't, I had had that little glimmer of hope.

"Do too! I can tell!"

"Because you're the master of love, right, Styles?" I could tell by the tone in his voice he was rolling his eyes.

"Ha! I never said anything about love!" Harry exclaimed. "You love her!" I rolled my eyes. Again, as if.

"I do not! Please, we're just friends! I like her as a _friend._ That's all. Trust me." My heart kinda shattered right there.

Before Harry continued, and Ed continued to stomp on my heart, I walked back to my room and grabbed my journal. Suddenly lyrics were swarming through my head. _Gee, I wonder why._ I jotted down the lyrics I had thought of, and as I wrote them, I thought of more.

In forty-five minutes, I had a song all written down. I honestly felt like Taylor Swift. Writing songs about my heartbreak.

I tucked the journal back into the drawer, then went back to the living room.

I found Ed watching TV. He looked at me. "I thought you said you'd be right back," he said, grinning a little.

I faked a smile and just shrugged. I sat down on the sofa, but Ed stood up. "I don't feel like sitting around here all day. Let's go do something!"

I stood up. "Like what?" I said, trying to put some enthusiasm in my voice. _Suck it up, _I thought to myself, _Don't let this ruin your time with him._

"I don't know. You pick." He smiled.

"Beach?" I said hopefully. He nodded, "Sure."

"Do you need to get swim trunks, or...?" I said.

"They're back at my parents' house. We can take the bus over there once you're ready." I nodded then went up to my room. I changed into my black one-piece. I then put on an orange cover up and grabbed my black towel that had a small orange pawprint in the corner. Yes, I have some of Ed's merchandise. Don't judge. I slipped on some sandals then went back to the living room where Ed was.

"Ready?" he said. I nodded. I grabbed a hair band and my purse as we walked out. I locked the door behind me, and we went downstairs and out of the building.

While we waited, I tied my hair into a high ponytail. When the bus got there, we both stepped on, and Ed gave the driver the money. We made our way to the closest empty seat and sat down.

"Um, excuse me?" someone said. We looked up to see a man, I'm guessing he was in his late thirties.

The man grinned. "I knew it was you!" I looked at Ed, smiling. The man continued, "You're Ed Sheeran. I'm a huge fan of your music."

Ed grinned. "Oh, thanks, man," he said. The man smiled widely, and started looking through his pockets to find something.

I realized he was looking for paper. I reached into my purse and grabbed my tiny notebook and ripped out a page, and I also grabbed a pen. "I believe he wants an autograph," I said, grinning, and handed Ed the pen and paper. The man looked at me gratefully. I just smiled in return.

"Could you sign it twice?" The man said, "One for me, one for my daughter?" Ed smiled, "Sure." He signed it twice and handed it to the man.

"Thank you," the man said, and put it in his pocket. "Amazing to meet you," he said. "You too," Ed said. The man nodded politely to me then left.

"That's really cool how he had you sign it for his daughter, too," I said. Ed nodded, grinning.

I bit my lip. "Ed, I'm really proud of you. You know that, right?" He nodded, smiling softly. "Of course. And I'm really proud of you, too."

I raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

"You never gave up on your writing, and now you've got an amazing book. And it's gonna be the next Hunger Games."

"You haven't even finished reading it. It could end up being complete garbage."

"But I know it won't, because I know you. Nothing you do can be garbage, it's impossible." He paused. "Except dancing." I grinned and smacked his arm. "Shut up." He laughed.

The bus rolled to a stop. We got off the bus and walked down the street to Ed's old house. When we got there, Ed and I walked right in. Ed had already dropped by, so they weren't surprised by him. But they were by me, I guess.

"Talia!" Mrs. Sheeran exclaimed. She gave me a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages! Not since you left for university."

"It's nice to see you again, Mrs. Sheeran," I said. She sighed. "For the last time, call me Imogen." I smiled. "It's nice to see you again, _Imogen."_ She smiled.

"And you better call me John," Ed's dad said, walking in. He came over and gave me a hug. I noticed Ed go upstairs to change.

"Hi, John," I said, grinning.

"How's that story of yours coming?" he asked. "I think I remember you said you finished it?"

I nodded. "I did. I'm on my fourth round of editing it. I'm hoping to send it to a publisher by August."

"That's amazing! So do you have a job right now?" Imogen asked.

"I have my own article in a magazine," I said, "And I've got a job at the Subway at the mall. I also babysit time to time."

"Oh, so you're pretty busy," she commented. I shrugged. "Not really. The article is only once a month, so I don't have to do much for it."

Ed came in just as John changed the subject. "Well, Ed was talking to us yesterday morning. He said he was really excited to see you. He said he'd been wanting to tell you-"

"Okay, Talia, time for us to go!" Ed interrupted, pushing me out the door. "Bye Dad, bye Mum!"

**Hope you all enjoyed! Remember, you're all "sooo cool, you're so beautiful, you're soo..."**


	4. Chapter 3

I heard Imogen and John laughing inside, as Ed shut the door behind us.

Ed started walking towards the beach quickly. I laughed. "Well, someone's excited to get to the beach."

"Uh, yeah," he said. I wanted to know what he had wanted to tell me, but I decided to ask him later.

We walked to the beach and when we got there, I threw down my towel and purse. I took off my cover up and tucked it into my purse so it didn't get sandy. I also put my glasses in the purse, too.

Then I ran into the water. At first, I shrieked a little because it was cold. Ed laughed at me. I could tell it was him through my blurry vision because he was the only one around who had bright, ginger hair. I stuck my tongue out at him. Ed started kicking some water at me, making me shriek more. "Edward Christopher Sheeran, knock it off!" He just splashed more. I glared at him.

"It's hard to take you seriously with your eyes all squinted like that," he said.

"You don't know how hard it is," I said dramatically, "To have as bad eyesight as me!" I fake-sobbed. He laughed, then said, "I've got bad eyesight, too."

"Not as bad as mine," I pointed out. He shrugged.

I looked over at the shore, and was able to make out a little girl making a sand castle. I put a hand to my heart, "That's so cute," I said.

"What is?" he asked. I pointed to the little girl. He said in a high-pitched voice, "Awwww." I glared at him again. "Shut up unless you mean it!" I said. He laughed again.

A big wave came in. My eyes widened. "Oh, no," I said, glancing over at the girl's castle, anticipating what was going to happen.

The wave passed us, making me a little unbalanced and almost fall. Then it continued and got to the little girl's castle. When the wave came back in, most of the castle was washed away. I started wading over to the girl, seeing the shock on her face. Ed's eyes followed me.

The girl had started crying when I reached her. "Hey, it's okay!" I said, rubbing her back. "It'll be fine. You can rebuild it. And maybe you could get your mommy or daddy to take a picture of it, too. Hey, it's okay." The little girl sniffed and looked up at me. "Who… who are you?"

"My name's Talia," I said. The girl smiled. "That sounds like a princess name!" I chuckled. "What's your name?" I asked.

"Amelia," the girl said. "Amelia?!" I said with an excited tone. "Now that is a princess name!" She gave me a wide, toothless grin. "There's a smile!" I said happily. She giggled.

I looked back to the castle. "You know what we can do to make sure it doesn't get washed away this time?" I said.

"What?" she asked.

"We can build a big wall in front of it, so the water can't get to it. I'll be right back, though." I ran back to my purse and grabbed my glasses. Then I came back and started shaping a wall. "Wanna help?" I asked her. She nodded happily, and we started working. In twenty minutes, we had an entire wall all around where the castle was going to be.

"Do you remember how you made the castle before?" I asked her. She nodded. "Can you help me, though? It'll be easier with a princess's help." I gave her an odd look. "But I'm not a princess."

"Yeah, you are! You have a princess name, you're really nice, you're smart, and you're pretty. That makes you a princess."

"Well, if that makes a princess, then you're a princess, too! You can live in this castle!"

"What!" she said. "No, I can't! It'll be way too small!"

"It will?" I said, grinning.

"Yeah!"

"Do you think I could fit in it?" I asked. She giggled, "No way!" I laughed.

"So how do we make the castle, your majesty?" I asked.

She explained to me what she wanted to do, and we worked. We spent about an hour finishing it. I made sure to let her do most of the work. It looked pretty good, for a little kid like that.

"We're done!" I said, grinning.

"No, not yet," she said and ran down to the shore. She picked up a shell, and came back. She put it on the wall of the castle, to make a door. "There! Now we're done!" I cheered and she joined in.

"I'm gonna go get Mommy so she can take a picture!" Amelia told me, then ran off to a woman who was tanning. Amelia poked her mother, and pointed towards me and the castle.

She and her mother walked over. "Hello," her mother said. "Thank you for helping Amelia with her castle. It looks great!"

"Mommyyy," Amelia whined, "Take a picture!"

"Hey," I said, faking a stern voice, "Patience, grasshopper." Amelia giggled, then said, "Mommy, can you please take a picture?" Her mother nodded and pulled out a camera from her purse.

Just as she was about to take a picture, a wave rolled in. "No!" Amelia cried, but when the tide came back into the water, the castle was still there, picture perfect.

"You're a genius, Talia!" Amelia said, hugging me. I smiled.

"You ready, Amelia?" her mother said. Amelia ran over and crouched next to the castle and looked at me. "Come on, Talia! You have to be in the picture. You helped!"

I knelt down on the other side of the castle. "Princess picture!" I exclaimed, grinning. Amelia threw her arms up, "Yeah!"

Her mother laughed and snapped the picture when Amelia brought her arms back down. "Thank you, Princess Talia!" she said afterwards.

"You're welcome, Princess Amelia," I said, grinning.

Amelia's mom told Amelia to keep playing, then went back to her stuff to continue tanning.

"Hey, how old are you?" I asked Amelia. "I'm five!" she said. "How old are you?"

I smirked, "I'm twenty-two." She gaped. "Whoa!" She sounded so amazed, making me laugh a little.

She peered behind me. "Hey," she whispered, "That man over there is looking at us." I looked behind me and saw Ed sitting in the sand, watching us. "Oh," I laughed, "That's my friend. Should I tell him to come over here?" She nodded.

I looked back at Ed. "Ed!" I called, "Come over here! Princess Amelia wants to meet you!" I winked at Amelia. He got up and started brushing some sand off.

"Hey," she whispered again, "Is he your prince?"

"Sorry?" I said. "Is that boy with the orange hair your prince?" I smiled somewhat sadly. "No, he's not. He's just a friend."

She frowned, "You seem sad. Do you love him?"

"Can you keep a secret?" I whispered. She nodded, "Uh-huh! I'm really good at keeping secrets!"

"Are you sure?" I said. She nodded. I had no idea why I was telling this random little girl this. But I liked this girl. She reminded me of myself.

"Do you love him?" she asked again. I nodded, then held a finger to my lips. "Shh, don't tell him."

She pretended to zip her mouth shut and throw away the key. I smiled.

Ed reached us. "So we've got a princess over here?"

"You have two princesses over here!" Amelia exclaimed, grinning. "Two?" he said, grinning at me.

"Uh-huh! Me, Princess Amelia, and her, Princess Talia. She's a princess because she has a princess name, she's smart, she's nice, and she's pretty!" She counted on her fingers as she listed the reasons.

Ed sat down next to me. "Well, you're definitely right about all those things," he said, grinning. My heart swelled up a little when I realized he was saying I was pretty. "Is that why you're a princess, too?" Ed asked Amelia. She nodded proudly.

Ed looked at the castle. "You've made an absolutely brilliant castle, girls." Amelia beamed.

"Why did you color on your arm?" she asked Ed, looking at it. Ed chuckled. "I didn't have paper," he said simply. She giggled, "That doesn't mean you color on yourself, silly! You just find some paper!" I grinned. I loved this kid.

"I didn't think of that," Ed said, hitting his head with his hand, as if to say, _Silly me._

Amelia leaned over and whispered to me not-so-quietly, "Your friend isn't very smart, is he?"

"He's smart," I said, looking at him. "He just doesn't always think." Amelia giggled again, while Ed pouted.

She looked at Ed. "Princess Talia told me she's twenty-two! Isn't that crazy?" she said. Ed laughed. "Sure is!" I laughed.

Amelia stood up and whispered in Ed's ear loudly, "I want to be as pretty as Princess Talia is when I grow up!"

Ed smiled towards me, then looked back at Amelia. "You're already beautiful, Princess Amelia."

She looked at Ed, eyes wide. "Thank you! Do you think Princess Talia is beautiful?"

Ed whispered something in her ear. Amelia grinned and gave me a thumbs up. I looked at Ed, smiling. Maybe he didn't like me like I liked him, but he was still extremely sweet, and that's all I could ask for.

"What's your name?" Amelia asked him. "Ed," he answered. She frowned. "But you need to have a prince name!"

"Well, my full name is Edward," he said. She clapped her hands together. "Perfect! We're Princess Amelia, Princess Talia, and Prince Edward!" Ed and I smiled at her enthusiasm.

"Amelia!" We looked over to see Amelia's mom waving her over. She tapped her watch to say _'Time to go.'_

"Aww!" Amelia pouted. "I have to leave! Bye Princess Talia, bye Prince Edward!"

"Wait one second," Ed said. "I need you princesses to pose." He pulled out his phone. I put my arm around Amelia and we smiled. Ed took the picture. "Perfect!" He showed us the picture, with the castle in the background. Amelia grinned, "I love it!"

"Amelia!" her mom called again. "Bye!" she said, and ran towards her mom. "Good luck, Princess Talia!" she called, while running backwards. I waved to her, smiling, and mouthed, 'Thanks.'

"Good luck with what?" Ed asked me, after waving to Amelia. "I told her about my story," I lied. Thank God I took theatre in high school, I thought to myself.

"You must be a brilliant babysitter," Ed said, watching Amelia leave with her mom. I shrugged, and stood up. "I guess I'm pretty good," I said, and started heading back to our stuff. I pulled my cover-up on, and picked up my towel, shaking it off. I picked up my purse and slung it over my shoulder. I glanced over at Ed and saw he was typing something on his phone.

My own phone beeped and I saw Ed had tweeted once again. That boy and his tweeting. I saw the picture of Amelia and I in front of the castle.

_** edsheeran**: Talia and I met Princess Amelia at the beach today. We all must now call Talia "Princess Talia."_

I looked at Ed. "So you're gonna have all the Sheerios call me Princess Talia now?" I asked. He grinned and nodded, "Yes, yes, I am!"

I grinned and shook my head.

"So do you wanna go back to your place now?" Ed asked. I nodded, "Sure. But you can stop by your place to get changed." He nodded and we set off.

**Hope you enjoyed! And remember, you're all, "sooo cool, you're soooo beautiful, you're sooooo..."**


	5. Chapter 4

**Because I'm so nice, you guys get two chapters today!**

After showering, I sat on the sofa, and pulled out my phone. I scrolled through some of the replies to Ed's last tweet.

_Aww, Princess Amelia is so cute!_

_Aw, Princess Talia? That is so cute, Ed!_

_Guys guys guys guys guys we can finally do something I've always wanted to do. Talia and Ed make Ted, and we can lengthen that to Teddy I FINALLY HAVE A SHIP CALLED TEDDY OH MY GOSH_

I laughed when I read that.

_It seems Ed has an obsession with Princess Talia ;) ;)_

Someone responded to the "Teddy" one. _Omg I'm so shipping Teddy! :D_

In the back of my mind, I thought,_ So do I!_ Then I mentally scolded myself. Ed's not going to like you like that, quit it!

I turned around and glanced at Ed, who was in the kitchen, looking for something to eat. I sighed, and turned back around. _Maybe you should tell him_, I thought. I immediately started mentally screaming at myself, _ARE YOU MAD, YOU CAN'T TELL HIM, WHY WOULD YOU EVEN THINK THAT?! YOU ARE COMPLETELY INSANE!_ And of course, all of this reminded of this morning, when Ed had that conversation with Harry and Louis.

I sighed and went into my room. I grabbed my earbuds, and plugged them into my phone. I started listening to some Adele. I grabbed my journal and a pencil and sat down on my bed. I started looking through the song I had written this morning. I changed some of the lyrics, so it sounded better. In my head, I started trying to come up with some music for it in my head.

After about five, ten minutes of thinking, there was a knock on my bedroom door. I threw my journal under my covers, and pulled up Twitter on my phone. "Yes?" I said.

Ed opened the door. "Are you alright? You seemed kind of upset when you came in here. What's wrong?"

I looked at him weirdly. "I'm fine, Ed," I said.

He looked at me skeptically, then nodded, "Good. Crisp?" He held the bag out to me. "Sure, I'll take the offering of my own food," I said, smirking a little as I grabbed one. He grinned, and plopped onto my bed. "So what're you doing?"

"Just scrolling through Twitter," I said. He nodded. "D'you see people are shipping us now?" he said, rolling his eyes._ Oh, that makes me feel great, Ed,_ I thought, _You're annoyed by the idea of us being together._ Then I mentally scolded myself again. _No, he wasn't saying that, Talia. He may not want to be in a relationship with you, but he doesn't hate you._ I started getting a headache. I needed to stop having mental conversations with myself.

I nodded to Ed. "Uh-huh. One girl was incredibly excited by the name Teddy." He chuckled and nodded. "I saw that one. Did you see the ones talking about you?"

I shook my head. He sighed and shook his head, "Course, you didn't…"

"What'd they say?" I asked, immediately worried what people were saying about me.

"It wasn't bad, if that's what you're worried about." He showed me his phone, and pointed to a few of the replies.

_Okay, Ed... Talia is gorgeous, why didn't you tell us about her sooner?!_

_ "Princess Talia" is so pretty!_

_ Talia is absolutely beautiful..._

_ Daaaang, Talia's HOT!_

I blushed as I read them. Gorgeous, pretty, beautiful, hot... I wasn't any of those, what were they saying?

Ed frowned as he looked at my face. "You don't believe them, do you?"

I shrugged, "Well, no, not really."

He sighed. "You know when Amelia asked me if I thought you were beautiful?" I nodded.

"I said yes. You are beautiful, Talia." I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples. _Seriously, Ed, knock it off._ It's like he's mocking me. I know he's being genuine, but still.

"Why don't you believe me? When I told you that you were stunning this morning, I-"

"Ed, please stop," I said.

"Why?" he asked.

"I appreciate the compliments, thank you, but you don't understand. It's complicated and..." I sighed.

He frowned and sighed, "Fine. I want you to feel good about yourself, though. You're an amazing person."

I let myself smile, "Thanks, Ed. You're awesome, too, 'Ginger Jesus.'" I put up air quotes, even though I meant it.

"What?" He said. I looked at him, like _You've got to be kidding_. "You haven't seen people call you that?" He shook his head. I laughed. "Every Sheerio calls you that! Well, all the girls do, anyway."

He smirked, "Even you?" _Yes_. I scoffed, "As if." He laughed.

"Hey, ya wanna go get some food?" Ed said suddenly, "I'm starving."

I raised my eyebrows and looked at the bag of crisps.

"Those didn't do anything," he said, looking at me hopefully. I rolled my eyes and stood up. "Fine. A Chinese place opened up down the street a couple months ago. It's really good."

"Then let's go!" He grabbed my hand and dragged me out of the apartment. I was just able to snatch my keys from my desk.

I locked the door behind us. I looked at my left hand, which Ed was still holding. I looked up at him, blushing. His cheeks turned the color of his hair, and he let go of my hand. "Sorry," he said. I nodded mutely and hurried down the stairs.

I started walking down the street towards the restaurant. Thank God it was only a couple minutes away, so we didn't have to walk in awkward silence for too long.

We went inside and the waiter immediately led us to our table. I ordered Sprite as a drink, and Ed got water.

The restaurant was a buffet, so we got up I get our food. I got tons of chow mein, because I was in love with it. I also got some orange chicken and general tso's and crab Rangoon.

I went back to my seat and dug in. As I was slurping up some chow mein, I noticed a random blond guy walk towards me.

"Hey," he said, smirking.

"Um, hi?" I said.

"Is your name Google?" he said.

"Sorry?" I asked.

"Is your name Google?" He repeated.

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh, no."

"Oh, really? Because you've got everything I'm searching for."

I turned slightly red, then said, "That was kinda tawdry," I said.

"What?" he said, lost.

"It means that was incredibly cheesy." Ed sat down next to me and smirked.

The blond boy's eyes widened. "Oh, I didn't know she was taken! Sorry, dude!"

Ed looked at me, eyes wide. "No, we're not together, we're just friends."

The boy looked at Ed, shocked. "Why not?"

"Because we don't like each other that way," I said quickly, frowning a little.

The boy glanced at from me to Ed and shook his head slightly at him, "Idiot." He sounded amused.

I gave him a death glare. It must've been pretty menacing, because his eyes widened and he hurried away.

Ed grinned and started to eat his food. I smiled as I got an idea. I picked up my chopsticks and stuck them in my mouth.

I tapped Ed's shoulder. He looked up. I threw my arms out. "I am the egg man! We are the egg men! I am the walrus!" I sang loudly. People looked at me weirdly.

Ed laughed. "You're so weird." I grinned, "Thank you!" I started giggling as people stared. Ed just shook his head.

I continued eating my food until I noticed Ed staring at something. I looked at where he was looking. I sighed. He was staring at a girl. And a gorgeous one at that.

I looked down, frowning, and picked at my food. _You seriously need to get your feelings under control,_ I thought to myself.

_ It's not that easy!_ I thought.

_Maybe not, but I'm sure you're being a bit ridiculous!_

_ Shut UP!_

I groaned and held my hands to my temples.

Ed looked at me. "Are you okay?" he said, concern written on his face. I closed my eyes. "Um, yeah... Headache, that's all."

"Do you want to go back home?" he asked me. I shook my head and faked a smile. "No, I'm okay. I'll be fine."

He sighed and called for the waiter. "What are you doing?" I asked. "Can I get a check, please?" Ed said. The waiter nodded and walked off.

I gave him a look. "What are you doing?" I asked again. "We are going home," he said, looking at me.

"Why?" I asked. The waiter came back with the check and fortune cookies, and Ed quickly paid. He handed the waiter back the check and scooped up the fortune cookies.

"Because," he said as we walked out the door, "You aren't fine."

"I am, too, Ed! Honestly, there's nothing wrong!" I exclaimed, walking around people to keep up with him.

"Is too," he said, walking faster.

"No, there's not! Everything is absolutely fine!"

"No, it's not!" he said, glancing at me. "I can tell when stuff is bugging you. I'm your best friend, I can tell!"

"Well, then you're wrong this time, Ed," I said.

We reached my building and we walked inside. We started walking up the stairs.

"No, I'm not," he said. "When something is bugging you, you always claim you get headaches. And then you deny everything. And I can tell when your smiles are fake," he said._ Really?_ I thought, _Because I've been pulling that fake smile a lot lately and you haven't noticed!_ We walked down the hall.

"And don't think I haven't noticed any of those fake smiles you've been giving me lately," he said, as if he were reading my thoughts.

"There's absolutely nothing wrong, Ed! I have no idea what you're talking about." We reached my flat.

"Goddamn it, Talia! Why won't you fucking tell me what's wrong?!" he yelled, causing me to flinch.

I opened the door. I ran straight to my room, locking the door behind me. I sank down to the ground and put my face in my hands.

Ed and I had had the occasional argument in the past, like every friendship did. But he had never yelled at me. Tears started slipping down my face, and I quickly wiped them away, sniffing.

I heard Ed on the phone in the other room. "I don't understand! She usually tells me everything! I don't get what's wrong this time."

I heard a garbled response. "No, she didn't tell me anything. She wouldn't even admit something was bugging her."

Another response.

"I didn't do anything! I haven't done anything wrong at all! Yes, I'm sure, Harry." Ed started walking closer, so I could make out what Harry was saying, "Could be a distance thing. Maybe since you've been gone so long, she's lost a little trust. I mean, it's been what, four, five years?"

"I guess... But no, she's not that type of person. She's able to pick up things right where they left off. I don't know what's wrong with her."

Wrong with me? I may be a little distant, Ed, but there's nothing wrong with me.

"Yeah, now she's locked herself up in her room," he said.

"I'd suggest you leave her alone for a bit. After a while, she'll be ready to come out and tell you what's wrong." I scoffed. That wasn't gonna happen.

Ed froze outside the door. "Shh, she can hear us."

"You're not exactly quiet, Edward," I said curtly. I cringed at how broken my voice sounded.

"Talia, look, I'm sorry," Ed said. "I didn't mean to yell at you." I didn't say anything.

"Just leave her alone," Harry said. _Thank you!_ I thought. I heard Ed sigh, but he walked away.

I got up and picked up my journal. _More writing!_ I thought, and grabbed a pen.

**Hope you all enjoyed! Remember, you're all "sooo cool, you're sooo beautiful, you're soooo..."**


	6. Chapter 5

**Thank you, Zayah, for informing me about that mistake. That was incredibly embarrassing. *cue all the facepalms* But it's fixed now!**

An hour later, I finally came out of my room, but not before fixing my makeup. It had looked dreadful, mascara running down my face. My eyes were all puffy and red, but I couldn't fix that.

I quietly opened and closed my door, and sat down on my sofa. Ed saw me from the kitchen and ran in. He sat next to me.

"Talia, I'm really sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you. I was just frustrated." I didn't reply.

"Talia, come on. I'm really, _really _sorry." Nothing.

"Please, say something. Anything." I kept my mouth shut. He sighed, and walked over to pick up my guitar.

He didn't play a specific song, he just strummed it a little. He did that when he was upset, I had noticed through the years.

I moved so I was now laying on my stomach, my face in a pillow. I thought back to all the things that had happened since Ed had gotten back.

_Didn't recognize me. That made me feel _great.

_People thought we were dating. I wish._

_ He told Harry and Louis he only liked me as a friend. Wasn't a surprise, but still._

_ We went to the beach and met Princess Amelia. I told her I loved Ed. I'm still not positive why I told her that. I mean, it was true, but she was just a random little kid._

_ He kept calling me beautiful. He got annoyed with me for me getting annoyed with him. He doesn't know what's going on, so I can't blame him for that._

_ The thing where he didn't let go of my hand. That was really awkward._

_ Another person thought we were dating. And he called Ed an idiot which pissed me off. Then Ed started staring at another girl. __**It's not like you're together!**__ I know that, but it still stings._

_ And then came the fight. I hated fighting with him. He was just concerned about me, but clearly, I couldn't tell him what was wrong! He'd look at me in a completely different way. He'd probably leave right then and there, and this time when he left, it'd be forever. I couldn't let that happen._

"Talia?" I looked up to see Ed crouching down next to me. I quickly wiped away the tears that I hadn't known were spilling.

He held up a journal. _My _journal.

"Ed," I whispered, "What are you doing with that?"

He flipped to the page with the song about him. "Who hurt you? Who's the bloody bastard that hurt you like this?"

I gulped. "No one, it's just... it's just a song."

He gave me a look. "I don't know if you noticed, Talia, but I'm a songwriter, too. I know when something is based off true emotion. This one is." I didn't say anything.

"Talia," he whispered, and I saw tears shining in his eyes. "Why wouldn't you tell me about this?"

"I don't know," I said, playing dumb, "Songwriting is kinda your thing. Story writing is mine."

He gave me The Look again. "No, why wouldn't you tell me someone hurt you like this? He clearly broke your heart. Who is he?"

"I can't... He isn't... You don't... I..." I sighed and put my head in my hands and started crying. Was he seriously going to make me tell him? I couldn't!

He put his arms around me. "Shh, shh. It's alright." He paused. "You don't still love this guy, right?"

I sniffed, then muttered, "Yes..." He groaned, "Why? Why would you love someone who broke your heart?"

I looked at him. "I can't help it. He's an amazing person. He doesn't even know he's hurting me."

He sighed. "I wish you'd just tell me who it is." I didn't say anything.

He stood up and started pacing. "Well, this guy doesn't deserve you, if he's hurting you like that."

I shook my head. "Oh, no. I don't deserve him. He's absolutely amazing. He's sweet, he's smart, he's handsome, he's funny..." I looked over at Ed, whose eyes were dark.

"What?" I said, suddenly scared he had realized I was talking about him.

"Nothing," he said. He pulled something out of his pocket. "Um, here." He tossed me the fortune cookie. "I'm going to go to Starbucks to get some coffee. I'll be back in a bit," he said, walking out. I tossed him my keys so he could get back in.

"Get me one," I called. "Alright," he said, shutting the door behind him.

I cracked open the cookie and looked at the fortune.

_Most often, if someone can't leave your mind, you can't leave theirs._

I rolled my eyes and crumbled up the paper. Uh-huh, sure.

**ED'S POV**

I didn't go to Starbucks. I went downstairs and dialed Taylor's number.

"Hello, Ed," she sang.

"Hey, Taylor," I said, running a hand through my hair.

"What's wrong?" she said. "I sense girl troubles. Is it Talia?"

I stopped walking. "How'd you know?"

"Well, you've only tweeted three times in the past two days and they've all been about her, and you sound stressed. So what's wrong?"

I explained the entire situation. "Okay, so I really like Talia. When I first saw her when I got back, l was amazed. She's beautiful, Taylor!"

She laughed, "I know, I saw the pictures."

I continued, "And she's just how she was when I left. She's funny, she's smart, she's extremely nice, and you should have seen her with Amelia earlier. She's absolutely brilliant with kids. She's a brilliant writer, and like I said before, she's absolutely gorgeous. She's perfect!"

"Ed..." Taylor said, "You've fallen for her hard, haven't you?"

"Yes, I have. But you haven't heard the bad part. She doesn't trust me anymore. She got annoyed when I complimented her. And I could tell something's been bugging her today, but she refused to tell me what it was. Then I found her journal. She wrote a song, and she didn't even tell me she writes songs, by the way, and Taylor, some jerk is breaking her heart right now. She's in love with someone else, and that hurts, a lot, knowing she loves another guy. And again, she won't tell me who it is. Just that he's _absolutely perfect."_

"I'm sorry, Ed... So you said she got annoyed with you complimenting her?"

"Yeah, I couldn't figure out why."

"Ed, what's Talia's number?"

"Why, you aren't going to tell her anything, right?"

"Ed, don't worry, I won't. Just give me her number. Maybe I can figure out who the guy is."

I told Taylor her number. "Okay, thanks, Ed, I'll talk to you later." She hung up and I trudged upstairs.

When I reached Talia's flat, I heard her talking inside. "Oh, you're... Holy crap, um, hi..." I laughed silently.

She was near the door, so I could hear Taylor. She laughed and said, "Hi. So Ed was talking to me earlier, about how a guy was hurting you... And by how he describes you, you're awesome and don't deserve to be hurt. I was curious who the idiot was."

"Well, um... You're not going to tell Ed any of this, correct?"

"Well, it depends. If it's too personal, then no, I won't."

Talia gulped. "Um, so, it's um... You have to promise you won't tell him."

"Talia, the fact that you're not telling him is hurting him. Can't you tell him who it-"

"No, I can't tell him that he's the one who's breaking my heart!" she exclaimed.

My eyes widened, while Taylor cheered. "I knew it! I knew it!" _She knew?! Why didn't she tell me?!_

"W- How did you know?" Talia asked. I didn't hear Taylor's answer, I was too busy doing a little happy dance.

Talia liked me! But wait, that meant... that song was about me. That meant I was the one who broke her heart. I suddenly felt a surge of self-loathing as I realized this. I can't believe I hurt her like that.

"I'm gonna go, Taylor. Starbucks is just downstairs, Ed should be back by now. I'm going to go check on him."

"Okay, bye, Talia." I heard Talia walk over and I froze on the spot. _Move! _I thought, but I couldn't.

The door opened and I stared at Talia.

"Oh, Ed, hello." She laughed. "What took you so long? And where's the coffee?"

"They were... Um, they were out," I said. _What the hell, Ed? _I thought to myself.

She raised an eyebrow. "Starbucks... Was out of coffee?" She looked at me like I was nuts. Didn't blame her, considering what I just said.

"Um... Yes?" I said. She nodded slowly, letting me in. "Ed, you are _so _weird."

I didn't respond and just sat down on the sofa, still staring at her.

**Talia's POV**

Ed stared at me. My heartbeat raced. _Please tell me he didn't hear the conversation with Taylor, please tell me he didn't hear... _I quickly walked into the kitchen and started to brew my own coffee, because he didn't get it.

"Talia," he said suddenly. I looked over and gulped, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"For what?" I said, getting nervous. He didn't hear me, did he? I prayed to God he hadn't.

He stood up and walked over. "For hurting you." I gulped, "I... I don't know what y-you're talking a-about..."

"I know the song's about me, Talia. I heard you talking to Taylor." I put my elbows on the counter, burying my face in my hands.

"Are you going to leave now?" I mumbled.

"What?" he asked. "I said, are you going to-"

"No, I heard you. Why would I leave?"

I turned away. "Because clearly you don't like me like that! I love you, and you only think of me as a friend, that's clear as day, and-"

Ed grabbed my arm and spun me towards him. I looked down at the ground and closed my eyes. "What?" I snapped.

He tilted my head up and suddenly, I felt his lips on mine. My eyes shot open in shock. But then, I closed my eyes and relaxed into the kiss. He wrapped his arms around my waist and I put my arms around his neck.

We parted. "I love you," he breathed, "And I am _so _sorry I didn't tell you sooner. I had no idea I was hurting you."

"But..." I said, "This morning you told Harry you only liked me as a friend. Just as a friend."

His eyes widened. "You heard that?" I nodded.

"Oh, no, Talia. I kept denying because I knew the boys would never stop teasing me. And I did finally admit it, but you must have left by then."

"So you... You actually l-like me?" I said, still shocked.

He chuckled and shook his head. "Oh, it's much more than that." He leaned forward and kissed me again.

When we parted this time, he said again, "I love you."

I smirked. "I'm enamoured by you." He laughed, and wrapped me in a hug after kissing my cheek.

Huh. So I guess "Teddy" is a thing now. And I couldn't be happier about that.

**And finished! Hope you all enjoyed! And for the final time, remember, you're ****_sooo cool, you're sooo beautiful, you're sooooo._**


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